


A Very Good Year

by icepixie



Category: Fringe
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Team
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-06
Updated: 2012-01-06
Packaged: 2017-10-29 01:09:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/314179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icepixie/pseuds/icepixie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Happy birthday to Astrid.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Very Good Year

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bessemerprocess](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bessemerprocess/gifts).



> This is set in S2, let's say between "Johari Window" and "What Lies Below."

Astrid entered the lab a little after one o'clock, having been out to lunch with a couple friends from college. She carried a cup of coffee with her, despite not usually touching it after noon. But so far, today had been given over entirely to paperwork and routine lab maintenance, and more was on the schedule for the afternoon, which definitely required caffeine. Not that she minded the relative dullness; in fact, she hoped the afternoon was even duller than the morning, because she had plans tonight, and the one day of the year a Fringe case should not be allowed to ruin her plans was on her—

"Surprise!"

She nearly dropped her coffee on the floor. While she was out, the lab had been transformed: streamers of every color, but primarily purple (her favorite) stretched across the walls, over Gene's stall, and even festooned some of the lab equipment. A delicious-looking chocolate cake, with several candles stuck into the frosting, rested next to the centrifuge. And in the center of the room, all three of them wearing party hats, stood Olivia, Walter, and Peter, each with large smiles on their faces.

 _I will not cry,_ Astrid told herself, feeling a few tears prick at her eyes anyway. Her grin felt like it might split her face in two.

"Happy birthday, dear," Walter said, coming forward to slip another party hat on her head and pull her into an enthusiastic hug. Peter and Olivia echoed the words, and when Walter was done with her, she embraced each of them in turn.

"Thank you all so much," she said once she let go of Olivia. "I had no idea you were planning this!"

"Well, that's the point of a surprise party, isn't it?" Olivia asked.

"You're just glad you managed to hide the streamers in time," Peter told her. He glanced at Astrid. "You nearly caught us when you came back for your coat before you went to lunch."

"So that was what that was about," she said. She had wondered why they all stood around looking like guilty little children when she came back to retrieve her forgotten coat, but at the time had put it down to something Walter-related she probably didn't want to know about.

"Enough about the decorations, though they are very pretty," Walter broke in from the lab bench. "Let's move on to the cake!" He raised a disturbingly large knife, pointing it directly at Astrid.

Gently, Peter took it from him, laying it next to the cake. "Candles first, remember?"

"Of course! How could I forget?" Walter began patting his pockets. "I was sure I put some..."

"I got it," Peter said, producing a book of matches from his own pocket.

"It looks delicious," Astrid said. A thought suddenly struck her. "Ah, Walter, did you make this?"

Peter chuckled as he lit the candles. "He helped, but I was in charge. I promise, the only way this cake can get you high is from the sugar."

"I still think she would've enjoyed the pot brownies," Walter muttered.

She decided it would be safest not to respond to that.

"Here we go," Peter said, waving out the match just before it reached his fingers. "Ready, everyone?"

"Gene, you too!" Walter called out. Remarkably, Gene (who was also wearing a hat), mooed back at him.

"One, two..."

As the people who had become the closest thing she had to family in Boston sang "Happy Birthday" to her, Astrid made her wish: no matter what Fringe Division threw at them in the coming year, she wanted her team to be happy and whole and still together when her birthday came around again. She couldn't imagine spending it without them.


End file.
